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Stand-up is one of the most fascinating oddball microcosms for me. It’s equal parts comedy and group therapy for a lot of comedians today. As Maz Jobrani, who returned to Bahrain last weekend for a packed show at the Gulf Convention Centre, said: “Back in school, this kid told me about two ways to recover from these scars: therapy and stand-up. Twenty years later, I am doing self-therapy on stage with all of you.”
During his packed show, he talked about these scars and the incidents that every immigrant child has experienced when they move to North America.
Having gone through many similar experiences myself, this was the part of the show I enjoyed the most. I had seen Maz in several shows including Better Off Ted. But his energy on stage was otherworldly as he fed off the energy of the multi-cultural crowd, prepped and warmed up by local funny man and opening act Imran Al Aradi.
It’s difficult to review comedy because everyone has their own taste in it. Some jokes, especially about immigrants that I found hilarious, I also realised were received lukewarmly by the crowd. Meanwhile, others that I chuckled at, like observations about different strains of Arabs received uproarious laughter and applause.
One thing I can definitely say about the show, which was organised by WanasaTime Entertainment, a media and online ticketing company, with Bahrain based company Out of the Box managing artists, production and logistics for the show, is that there was something for everyone.
My favourite part about his unique delivery style would be his name picking. To make the show more intimate, either by pure coincidence or smart planning, he picked around six people on the spot from time to time, each from a different ethnicity. While his jokes were for the audience, he referred to these unlucky few by first name as though he were sitting at a local kebab joint, sipping karak tea and sharing tales of a grand adventure.
Maz Jobrani Live was one of the first shows for this partnership with more shows to come in 2020 under WanasaTime and Out of the Box.
During a hearty evening filled with immigrant innuendo, “oh no, he didn’t” moments and not as many Trump jokes as I was expecting, Maz once again proved that he was not just the guy who played a stereotypical terrorist once on 24 and wrote a book about fighting against typecasting only to play other stereotypical immigrant roles.
